Blockade

In short

In a blockade you put a piece directly on the square in front of an enemy pawn. The pawn can then no longer advance.

Nimzowitsch asks whether it is not enough just to control the square. He answers with the nature of the pawn: pawns want to move forward, and a passed pawn becomes more dangerous with every step. That is why it pays to stop it completely.

A blockader can do other jobs on the side. With every attack, check whether a recapture after a capture works out well for you. Protection alone does not prevent loss of material.

In lesson 18, after Nd3 the black bishop can capture the knight. With Qxd3 or Bxd3, White keeps up the blockade; both sides have lost a minor piece. If the white queen stood on d3 instead, White would lose a queen for a bishop in the same exchange.

In “Chess Praxis” he recommends restraining enemy pawns to players of every strength.

Summarized by the editors in their own words. This is not a quotation.

Where to find it in Nimzowitsch

• My System: I. Teil, 4.2 Die Blockade der Freibauern (original text)

  Here Nimzowitsch explains why you should blockade a passed pawn, and compares good and bad blockaders.

• My System: I. Teil, 4.3 Der Blockeur im Haupt- und Nebenberuf (original text)

  What a blockader can achieve besides blockading.

• My System: I. Teil, 4.4 Im Kampfe gegen den Blockeur (original text)

  How to fight against a blockade and why minor pieces make good blockaders.

• The Blockade: Abschnitt I (original text)

  The beginning of his work on the blockade: what a blockade is and why pawns push forward.

• Chess Praxis: 2. Hemmung und Blockade (original text)

  Games from “Chess Praxis” in which restraining and blockading enemy pawns is the focus.

In the course

• A knight stops the pawn
• The right piece stops the pawn
• Nimzowitsch – Salwe, Carlsbad 1911